How do you adjust brake fly height?, Or do I have a sticky caliper? Options

[purple]

Hey Guys,

I'm torqueing my CV bolts the other day and notice that when i turn my rear wheels, my left wheel makes a 'dragging' noise. like the brake pads are touching the rotor. Is there some adjustment i can do to just that one, or do i have to have the calipers rebuilt?

My right front makes a similar noise, but not nearly as much. the other two are silent.

[Eric_Shea]

You need to adjust your rear parking brake gap. Before you go too far turn your wheel again and make sure it's consistent and you don't have a runout issue (may be new rotor time if it's too drastic).

Here's a start:

1. Yank the pins and pads and clean everything up. I saw a member here put his pins in his drill and clean them up with a Scotch-Brite pad. Good idea. Get a wire brush in the pad cavity and clean it out. Clean the pads as well. Wire brush the sides etc. Make sure everything is working smoothly. While you're in there and the pads are out, take a look at the dust boots over the pistons and make sure there are no rips and tears.

Put the pads and pins back in.

2. Access your adjusters. The outer adjusters may have caps on them. Take them off with a 13mm. The inner adjusters have a plug sealing their cavity. This plug will almost always be problematic. The 4mm hex does not have enough surface area to engage and overcome the (rusty) thread surface of the cap. A cold chisel and a hammer will "pop" that cap and get it rotating. Do this "before" you strip the 4mm then you can remove the rest of the way with the 4mm hex.

3. Remove the cable attachments from the caliper arm. Try to salvage the clips and save them for reuse.

4. Let the adjusting begin. Start with the outer adjuster. IMPORTANT - first loosen the 13mm lock nut. Now you can adjust with the 4mm. Go both ways and make certain the piston is now operating freely on the adjuster shaft. You will want to adjust to .004" (not .008 as the manuals say) on the high side of your runout. As follows: Clockwise will open the gap. Counterclockwise will close the gap. Again, set it at .004"

Your inner adjusters are gear driven. Make sure that gear is in the adjuster cavity. With a 4mm hex on a long extension go through the hole in the arm and into your adjuster cavity. Remember, these are gear driven so all of the actions above are in reverse for the inner adjuster: Clockwise will close the gap. Counterclockwise will open the gap. Again, set it at .004" on the high side of the runout.

5. Button everything back up. If you salvaged the inner adjuster covers coat them with anti-seize and order some new ones. I use the 5mm covers with the deep well for the hex... WAY better than the unobtainable stock ones.

Good luck.

P.S. Up front you probably have a sticky caliper. That would be a good indication of the condition of the rears as well.